The problem: This significant news—huge for an emerging Michigan program—wouldn’t even have warranted a second look had the Wolverines not stumbled into what they had on the bench while trying to figure out a way to win with what they had on the field.

That’s right, despite all of the flash and dash and dynamic ability of dual-threat quarterback Denard Robinson over the last four years, there was one underlying, overlooked issue that prevented Michigan from winning big games: His passing skills consisted solely of chucking jump balls and hoping for the best.

So when Robinson injured his throwing arm late in the season and Michigan needed a quarterback, the Wolverines finally settled on the player former UM coach Rich Rodriguez recruited to Ann Arbor and wanted to build his program around.

“We had high hopes for Devin,” Rodriguez said. “We saw him as a Pat White kind of player. A guy who could change the game with his arm and his feet.”

Somewhere along the way, the system Rodriguez invented years ago at Division II Glenville State, nurtured as offensive coordinator at Clemson and perfected as coach at West Virginia, has become more about the quarterback running than anything else.

It’s exciting and worthy of all those late night television highlights, but what does it really accomplish when you have to win a game?

“Teams that can throw it well off that (set),” says Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, “are those that are most dangerous.”

Translation: We’ll eventually figure out how to stop or limit the run (Michigan’s opponents in big games did against Robinson), but dealing with a true dual-threat quarterback—who can throw it efficiently—changes everything.

Want to see how important the forward pass is to teams that run spread option and use spread option principles? Watch how lost the Notre Dame offense looked against Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game.

Watch how inept the Florida offense looked in the Gators’ only two losses of the season, where quarterback Jeff Driskel threw a combined four interceptions (he had five total for the season) against Georgia and Louisville.

Watch how utterly unstoppable the Texas A&M offense looked against Alabama and Oklahoma and just about any other team the Aggies faced.

Watch Nebraska in just about every big game with dynamic quarterback Taylor Martinez—and watch how it invariably comes down to him making plays (see: not making) in the passing game.

“The concept is a good one; you spread everyone out and force the defense to cover sideline to sideline,” said Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart. “But you better be good at both options or it gets predictable—in a hurry.”

That brings us back to Gardner, who found himself in the Michigan starting lineup by chance. Robinson got injured, and backup Russell Bellomy played poorly. The next thing you know, the quarterback turned wideout turned quarterback was heaving beautifully thrown deep balls the following week against Minnesota.

While he’s not the runner Robinson is—or even the runner Driskel is— Gardner is good enough to force defenses to pursue him in the zone read option, the foundation of the quarterback run in the spread option. Michigan won three games with Gardner as the starter, then lost to Ohio State (a game it could have won) and blew a late lead in a loss to SEC heavyweight South Carolina (where Gardner played his best game of the season).

It’s a different Michigan team now because it’s a different Michigan offense now.